Short answer
The Talmud tells a story in which a man called Yeshu is hanged on the eve of Passover (Sanhedrin 43a). Most scholars read the story as being about Jesus. In the story, a herald first called out for forty days for anyone to speak in his defence. The charges were sorcery and enticing Israel to worship idols. Medieval manuscripts call him Yeshu ha-Notzri, "Jesus the Nazarene". The story disagrees with the New Testament Gospels on the court, the method, the charge and the length of the trial. The Qur'an reports the claim "We killed Christ Jesus" and answers: "they killed him not, nor crucified him" (4:157).
Full explanation
What Sanhedrin 43a says
The Babylonian Talmud, edited about 500-600 CE, records the rabbis' discussions of the Mishnah. The Mishnah is the code of Jewish law, compiled around 200 CE. "Sanhedrin 43a" means page 43a of Sanhedrin, the volume on courts and punishments. There the Mishnah says a herald, a public crier, goes out before a man led to execution. The Talmud asks whether a herald ever went out earlier. To object, it quotes a baraita, a teaching presented as coming from the early sages. The baraita is about Yeshu. It says he was to be stoned for sorcery and for enticing Israel to worship idols. A herald called for a defence for forty days. Then, it says, he was hanged on Passover eve. Ulla, a teacher of the 3rd-4th century, objects. Someone who entices others to worship idols should get no search for a defence at all (Deuteronomy 13:8; 13:9 in the Hebrew). He then answers himself: Yeshu was different, because he was close to the government. Travers Herford, an English scholar of the rabbis, made the 1903 translation quoted here. In it, Ulla calls Yeshu "a revolutionary". The Aramaic phrase behind it is usually read as "one for whom a defence is sought".
“And it is tradition: On the eve of Pesaḥ they hung Jeshu [the Nazarene]. And the crier went forth before him forty days (saying), '[Jeshu the Nazarene] goeth forth to be stoned, because he hath practised magic and deceived and led astray Israel. Any one who knoweth aught in his favour, let him come and declare concerning him.' And they found naught in his favour. And they hung him on the eve of Pesaḥ. Ulla says, 'Would it be supposed that [Jeshu the Nazarene] a revolutionary, had aught in his favour?' He was a deceiver, and the Merciful hath said (Deut. xiii. 8), Thou shalt not spare, neither shalt thou conceal him. But it was different with [Jeshu the Nazarene], for he was near to the kingdom.”
The Mishnah (6:1) says a herald goes out before a man led to execution. The Talmud asks whether a herald also went out earlier, and quotes a baraita (tanya, a teaching presented as from the early sages, the tannaim, but left out of the Mishnah) as an objection. The baraita says that on the eve of Passover they hung Yeshu ha-Notzri. For forty days a herald had announced that he would be stoned, because he practised sorcery (kishef), enticed Israel to idolatry (hesit) and led it astray (hiddiach), and had called for anyone who knew a reason to acquit him. None was found. Ulla, a Palestinian-born teacher of the 3rd-4th century active in Babylonia, objects: an enticer to idolatry is not given a search for a defence (Deuteronomy 13:9). He answers himself: Yeshu was different, because he was karov le-malchut, close to the government (or to royalty). A second baraita follows on five disciples, each condemned by a play on a verse. It has no parallel in the Mishnah, the Tosefta or the Jerusalem Talmud. (A related tradition about Ben Stada, an enticer stoned at Lod, is in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 7:12, and Sanhedrin 67a adds that he was hanged on Passover eve; whether he is Jesus is disputed.) Manuscripts: MS Florence II.I.7-9 (1177), MS Karlsruhe (Reuchlin) 2 and MS Yad Harav Herzog 1 read Yeshu ha-Notzri, and Florence adds "on the eve of the Sabbath"; in MS Munich 95 (1342) the name has been erased (reported by Schäfer 2007, pp. 64-65 and 133-140, and for Florence and Munich by Rabbinovicz through Dalman 1893). The passage is missing from the standard printed (Vilna) text; the Koren/Steinsaltz edition restores it.
Who is Yeshu? The manuscripts
The standard printed Talmud lacks the passage. Herford printed it from the manuscripts, the hand-written copies, and from early editions. Three manuscripts read Yeshu ha-Notzri, Jesus the Nazarene. One is in Florence, dated 1177. The other two are known as Karlsruhe 2 and Herzog 1. In a Munich manuscript dated 1342 (Munich 95) the name has been erased. Most modern scholars hold that the Babylonian Talmud's Yeshu ha-Notzri is Jesus of Nazareth as the rabbis imagined him. Herford is one. So is Peter Schäfer, a German scholar of ancient Judaism, in his 2007 book Jesus in the Talmud. A minority disagree. Johann Maier, a scholar of ancient Judaism, argued in 1978 that the link to Jesus was made late.
The Mishnah (6:1) says a herald goes out before a man led to execution. The Talmud asks whether a herald also went out earlier, and quotes a baraita (tanya, a teaching presented as from the early sages, the tannaim, but left out of the Mishnah) as an objection. The baraita says that on the eve of Passover they hung Yeshu ha-Notzri. For forty days a herald had announced that he would be stoned, because he practised sorcery (kishef), enticed Israel to idolatry (hesit) and led it astray (hiddiach), and had called for anyone who knew a reason to acquit him. None was found. Ulla, a Palestinian-born teacher of the 3rd-4th century active in Babylonia, objects: an enticer to idolatry is not given a search for a defence (Deuteronomy 13:9). He answers himself: Yeshu was different, because he was karov le-malchut, close to the government (or to royalty). A second baraita follows on five disciples, each condemned by a play on a verse. It has no parallel in the Mishnah, the Tosefta or the Jerusalem Talmud. (A related tradition about Ben Stada, an enticer stoned at Lod, is in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 7:12, and Sanhedrin 67a adds that he was hanged on Passover eve; whether he is Jesus is disputed.) Manuscripts: MS Florence II.I.7-9 (1177), MS Karlsruhe (Reuchlin) 2 and MS Yad Harav Herzog 1 read Yeshu ha-Notzri, and Florence adds "on the eve of the Sabbath"; in MS Munich 95 (1342) the name has been erased (reported by Schäfer 2007, pp. 64-65 and 133-140, and for Florence and Munich by Rabbinovicz through Dalman 1893). The passage is missing from the standard printed (Vilna) text; the Koren/Steinsaltz edition restores it.
“And it is tradition: On the eve of Pesaḥ they hung Jeshu [the Nazarene]. And the crier went forth before him forty days (saying), '[Jeshu the Nazarene] goeth forth to be stoned, because he hath practised magic and deceived and led astray Israel. Any one who knoweth aught in his favour, let him come and declare concerning him.' And they found naught in his favour. And they hung him on the eve of Pesaḥ. Ulla says, 'Would it be supposed that [Jeshu the Nazarene] a revolutionary, had aught in his favour?' He was a deceiver, and the Merciful hath said (Deut. xiii. 8), Thou shalt not spare, neither shalt thou conceal him. But it was different with [Jeshu the Nazarene], for he was near to the kingdom.”
Argues that the most explicit Jesus passages appear only in the Babylonian Talmud and date, at the earliest, from the late third or early fourth century. He reads them as deliberate counter-narratives to the Gospels, written by rabbis who knew the New Testament, the Gospel of John in particular, probably through the Syriac church's Diatessaron or Peshitta. The execution story answers the Gospels' passion story by recasting the death as a lawful sentence of a Jewish court. He treats the stories as polemic, not as history.
Argues that no early rabbinic passage clearly refers to Jesus, and that the passages that name him, Sanhedrin 43a and 107b among them, received the name late, largely after the Talmud was completed.
How the story differs from the Gospels
The story contradicts the New Testament Gospels at almost every point. In the Gospels a Roman governor sentences him. In the Talmud a Jewish court does. The Gospels have him crucified alive. The Talmud announces a stoning and reports a hanging. In rabbinic law the hanging follows a stoning. It is the dead body that is hanged, and it is taken down the same day (Mishnah Sanhedrin 6:4). The Gospels' charges are blasphemy and "King of the Jews". The Talmud's charges are sorcery and enticement to idolatry. The Gospels' trial runs from one night to the next morning. The Talmud's herald calls for forty days. Where the story does meet the Gospels, it echoes them. Its date, Passover eve, is John's. Its "led astray" is like "he deceiveth the people" (John 7:12). Schäfer argues that the Babylonian rabbis knew John's Gospel and wrote their story as an answer to it.
“And it is tradition: On the eve of Pesaḥ they hung Jeshu [the Nazarene]. And the crier went forth before him forty days (saying), '[Jeshu the Nazarene] goeth forth to be stoned, because he hath practised magic and deceived and led astray Israel. Any one who knoweth aught in his favour, let him come and declare concerning him.' And they found naught in his favour. And they hung him on the eve of Pesaḥ. Ulla says, 'Would it be supposed that [Jeshu the Nazarene] a revolutionary, had aught in his favour?' He was a deceiver, and the Merciful hath said (Deut. xiii. 8), Thou shalt not spare, neither shalt thou conceal him. But it was different with [Jeshu the Nazarene], for he was near to the kingdom.”
Describes execution by stoning. Then: all who are stoned are hanged, in the view of Rabbi Eliezer; the Sages say only the blasphemer and the idolater are hanged. It is the dead body that is hanged, on a post, and it is taken down at once, because Deuteronomy 21:22-23 forbids leaving it overnight. So in rabbinic law hanging follows death by stoning; it is not a way of killing.
“And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.”
“Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.”
“And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
“And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.”
“And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!”
“And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.”
Argues that the most explicit Jesus passages appear only in the Babylonian Talmud and date, at the earliest, from the late third or early fourth century. He reads them as deliberate counter-narratives to the Gospels, written by rabbis who knew the New Testament, the Gospel of John in particular, probably through the Syriac church's Diatessaron or Peshitta. The execution story answers the Gospels' passion story by recasting the death as a lawful sentence of a Jewish court. He treats the stories as polemic, not as history.
The Qur'an's answer
The verse begins with the Arabic wa-qawlihim, "and their saying": "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary". The English translation used here, by Yusuf Ali, adds "(in boast)" in brackets. That is the translator's addition. The Qur'an answers: "they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them" (4:157). Those who differ, it says, "are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow". God (﷾) raised Jesus to Himself and cleared him (4:158; 3:55). Since the killing did not happen, Islam lays the guilt of his blood on no one. It blames no one living today for an old story: "no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another" (6:164).
“That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-”
“Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-”
“Behold! Allah said: "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.”
“Say: "Shall I seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things (that exist)? Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. Your goal in the end is towards Allah: He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed."”
The replies, and the answers
Qur'an 4:157 — Surat al-Nisa (The Women), verse 157
“That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-”
Cited for
The Qur'an came six centuries after Jesus, later than the baraita. If a late story is no witness, the Qur'an's denial is no witness either, and Muslim commentators disagree about who was crucified in his place.
The response
The commentators' reports do differ. Al-Tabari, a 10th-century commentator on the Qur'an, records several and says which he prefers. The early historian Ibn Ishaq ends his with "God knows best". Muslims hold those as reports, not as revelation. The verse itself says only that Jesus was not killed or crucified, that it was made to appear so, and that God (﷾) raised him. The Qur'an does not claim to be a human record passed down from witnesses. It claims to be from God (﷾), and the site argues that case on its pages about the Qur'an.
Where it lands — The human accounts of what happened to Jesus disagree, as the verse says. The Qur'an's denial stands or falls with the Qur'an, not with any report about it.
Qur'an 4:157 — Surat al-Nisa (The Women), verse 157
“That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-”
Cited for
No Jew ever called Jesus the Messiah, let alone "the Messenger of Allah". Sanhedrin 43a calls him a sorcerer. So the Qur'an puts words in Jewish mouths.
The response
The titles need not be the speakers' belief. Ibn Kathir, a 14th-century commentator on the Qur'an, explains them as mockery, meaning: this man who claims that rank, we killed him. The idolaters of Mecca mocked the Prophet (ﷺ) the same way, with his own claim to revelation (15:6). The point of the verse is the claim of a killing, and it says that claim is false.
Where it lands — The verse reports a claim to have killed the man who claimed to be the Messiah. What it denies is the killing.
Perspectives
Traditional Jewish reading
The passage is a baraita, a teaching ascribed to the early sages. It is quoted to test a point of law about the herald. It shows a court searching forty days for grounds to acquit. Medieval rabbis were not agreed that every Yeshu passage meant Jesus of Nazareth.
The baraita is quoted in a legal discussion about the herald before an execution. It portrays a court seeking a defence for forty days.
Rebuttal
The question is not whether the story's court was fair. It is whether the killing happened. Klausner, a Jewish historian of the 20th century, judged the forty-day herald a story told for a purpose, and hard to accept as history. The Qur'an says the killing did not happen (4:157).
This Yeshu is not Jesus of Nazareth. The name was common, and some medieval rabbis denied that these passages meant Jesus.
Rebuttal
The oldest manuscripts read Yeshu ha-Notzri, Jesus the Nazarene. Most scholars, Herford and Schäfer among them, read the passage as about Jesus. And if it is not about Jesus, it says nothing about what happened to him.
Christian apologetic reading
Christians point to Sanhedrin 43a as a non-Christian witness that Jesus was executed on the eve of Passover, as John's Gospel says. They add that even the rabbis who opposed him did not deny that he died.
The baraita places the execution it describes on the eve of Passover, the day John gives.
Rebuttal
The story differs from the Gospels on the court, the method, the charge and the length of the trial. Where it meets them, it echoes them. Schäfer argues its rabbis knew John's Gospel, so the shared date is no second witness.
A hostile source that accepts that he was executed is independent confirmation of it.
Rebuttal
It comes from rabbis who, in Schäfer's view, knew the Gospels, so it is not independent. And 4:157 does not deny that people believed he had been killed. It says "so it was made to appear to them".
Historians of the Talmud
The Jesus stories of the Babylonian Talmud are late, and written to answer Christian claims. They tell us how the rabbis saw Christianity, not how Jesus lived.
Schäfer dates the explicit Jesus passages to the late third century at the earliest. He reads them as answers to the Gospels, John in particular.
Rebuttal
If so, the story answers the Gospels. It is no separate witness to what happened to Jesus.
Maier argued that the name in these passages was added late.
Rebuttal
Most scholars disagree, and the oldest manuscripts name him. If Maier is right, the passage says nothing about Jesus at all.
The Islamic perspective
Jesus was neither killed nor crucified; God (﷾) raised him to Himself. The Qur'an reports the claim of his killing and denies it, and the accounts that disagree with one another fit the "conjecture" it describes. No one bears the guilt of his blood, and no one bears another's sin.
The Qur'an states that Jesus was not killed or crucified, but it was made to appear so. God (﷾) raised him to Himself.
Sanhedrin 43a and the Gospels disagree on the court, the method, the charge and the length of the process.
The killing did not happen, so Islam lays the guilt of Jesus' blood on no one, Jew or Roman. It also rejects inherited guilt.